Thoughts of a New Life

It seems as if the summer has passed so quickly compared to years past. I've had summers filled with scrap booking, running around an empty campus, summer school and the likes. I've had summers filled with friends, some still around, others just a mere memory, a vaguely remembered face, and summers filled with crushes and 'boyfriends', all now long gone. But this summer was different. Besides being a transition from high school to college and the joys of packing for such an occasion, this summer has also been about growing personally and I am eternally grateful that I have had my boyfriend there to help me with it all.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. She has a boyfriend, you say, they've been together all summer. Chances are, it'll fall apart during the first semester. Chances are they don't know what love is and they're just dumb kids. They haven't had a chance to live and experience life, they have no idea what they're talking about when they talk about love and life and the future.

Oh how wrong you are.

I met my boyfriend when he came to crash my prom this past April because my date was a friend of his and had ridden down from Maryland to be my date. Upon laying eyes on Jerry, who was wearing a uniform from the second World War, I promptly told him that I had to hug him and proceeded to do so. That next weekend, I invited him and two other people who were both friends with my date and Jerry to help me celebrate my birthday by attending a movie with me, The Forbidden Kingdom. I had just newly turned eighteen.

I feel that I must bring up at this point that Jerry is older than I am by seven years, which has never bothered me because he is a very decent man. He has a strong sense of morals and honor, a very strong relationship with his god, which I respect whole heartily, and is what I like to classify as an old school gentleman. He is the type of man that doesn't understand why men whistle at young things not wearing nearly enough clothing. His kind are few and far between.

This entire summer, nearly every weekend I have spent in his company in some form or another. In the beginning, I didn't see him nearly as often as I would have liked. We would go to movies, to the go-kart track, play put-put golf, walk around the mall and the likes. Then as my parents became more comfortable with him, he was allowed to come pick me up and we would begin to spend entire days together. So I would say I've been spoiled when it comes to this style of life. I greatly look forward to the weekends now more than I ever have because I know something, it doesn't matter what, will be going on and it'll be fantastic.

We 'officially' started dating after my graduation from high school in May but I have a feeling that he and I were pretty much together from the get go. From the start, he's always understood me and I've understood him. It's been an effortless melding of two halves into a whole. In fact, this past Saturday, a family friend met my boyfriend for the first time and he told me how our speech patterns were so similar and so many other things were so mirroring that he said it was like talking to a male me.

Most relationships have problems. One likes music that the other doesn't, they can't agree on television or a movie, the woman is always taking and the man is never receiving anything in return, and so on and so forth. There's a problem, some where that's brought to light and the fighting commences somewhere down the road. With us, we've agreed on just about everything and it's our differences that make us unique and endear us to the other. We've never squabbled over something and if we have bickered, it's been an affectionate fight, not a mean one. We understand when the other's joking.

When we're walking around the mall or somewhere else, we just sort of shake our head at couples that don't seem like a couple at all. It's easy to see that one of them has to be in charge, their body language gives away their dispassionate feelings for one another, they just seem to separate. They aren't smiling and laughing, holding each other's hand or their arm around each other's waists. They seem like ill fitted pieces in this puzzle that we call life. He and I, on the other hand, fit perfectly. If he's in a bad mood, just my talking to him helps and vice versa. We just feel better around each other, and that's what love is. It isn't putting someone down or trying to take control of someone else's life. It's compromise and partnership, it's communication and a willing to be open to each other, but most of all, it's about love.

He and I are nearing our third month together, four since we've known each other and I have a feeling he and I are going to last a long while yet. I'm absolutely crazy about that man, I love and adore him and he is the same way. Happiness knows no bounds when we're together.

So I go forth into this college year and I celebrate the fact that I have found the love of my life and I have nothing to fear as long as we're together.